Appointment of new RTÉ Chief Financial Officer announced

RTÉ has announced the appointment of a new Chief Financial Officer, to replace Richard Collins who resigned late last year. 

RTÉ announced the appointment of Mari Hurley to the role of Chief Financial Officer on Friday.

Ms Hurley noted that she was joining at "a critical time for the organisation". 

RTÉ has found itself engulfed in scandal since last year. 

The controversy originally arose in relation to fees paid to star presenter Ryan Tubridy, but widened out to general expenditure at the broadcaster as well as governance and accounting practices.

The national broadcaster outlined that Mari’s previous CFO roles include AA Ireland, Premier Lotteries Ireland (operator of the National Lottery) -both regulated entities, Hostelworld Group plc and Sherry FitzGerald Group.

Ms Hurley was CFO of Hostelworld when it listed on the UK and Irish stock exchanges in 2015. Mari is a graduate of University College Cork and has completed the executive management program at Harvard Business School.

She also has non-executive board experience in two of Ireland's leading semi-state entities. Currently a Non-Executive Director of the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), Ms Hurley was also a non-executive director at Ervia until August 2021. Mari has served both bodies as Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and Chair of the Credit and Remuneration Committees.

Kevin Bakhurst, Director-General, RTÉ, said: “Mari is a highly experienced CFO with extensive experience in setting and driving the strategic direction of global businesses. Mari’s broad corporate finance experience means she is skilled at embedding strong governance and controls in regulated businesses. Her proven deliveries in the development of systems for enhanced governance, control processes and provision of regular reporting, aligns strongly with RTÉ’s renewed mission around transparency, accountability and good governance.”

Ms Hurley said: “I’m delighted to be joining RTÉ and its Leadership Team at this critical time for the organisation and for the future of public service media in Ireland. I look forward to working with the Director-General, the RTÉ Board, it’s Audit & Risk Committee and the Finance team to develop RTÉ’s financial strategy and to bring my experience of successfully leading and implementing change and transformation programmes to RTÉ, in line with the unique values and obligations of public service."

Mari will take up her role in late summer. Mari joins recent appointments to RTÉ’s Leadership Team, including Gavin Deans, Commercial Director, and Daniel Coady, Director of Legal.